Weight lifting / increasing muscle mass for WLI weight loss and maintenance

[MeridaBrave]

Inspired by another thread, this is for those of us who are weight training for WLI maintenance or weight loss, or those who want support and handholding getting started with weight training

This is all really useful!

How do you get free passes? Im interested! Usually they only give a tour of the facilities…

try their websites, many have free trial pass there.

Just get googling gyms, golf clubs, health clubs near you, and check out their website membership pages. Some do tasters for free, some do cheap day passes, some offer guest passes to their members so ask your mates too, and some just let you in for a 'look'. I thought I'd be stuck in a hard selling meeting when I turned up, but I just say I want to test out your gym before I make a decision on joining and I've never had an issue yet.

Thanks i’ll try!

How’s everyone doing?

DH got an apple fitness+ thing for the family and I’m quite pleased with it. Have been doing various workouts on it at home this week (strength, yoga, Pilates) while the weather has been horrible.

@ShrankLastWinter hello. It'd gone so quiet on here, I'd forgotten about it!

I've just finished my 'at home' session - about 45mins of bands and weights. I do this a couple of times a week, plus a Reformer pilates session and a gym weights and cardio session. All good, although after about 6months at it, I'd have hoped to see a bit more evidence of muscle growth. I can now just about do a couple of push ups which is perhaps a better measure of progress - pretty chuffed about that at 60years old.

I've got a Samsung watch. I feel fitter just putting it on! The muscle/fat % bit never really improves, just bobs up and down week by week inexplicably which is really annoying. But i like that it tells me how many calories I'm burning when I exercise as this gives me a bump to eat more. It seems pretty good at measuring steps and hope it's equally accurate with resistance type exercises. I hate wearing it to monitor my sleep though, my sleep isn't great and I think it made me obsess about how long I was awake which didn't help!

I go to a Ladies only gym. A delight. Women of every size and age just doing their thing. No one hogs any station, just get on with their reps, wipe the station down and move on. I’m no expert so mainly use the machines and add a few dumbbell exercises for variety. I’ll look into the helpful suggestions here for resistance band work.

oh I'd love a women only gym. So many men think they own the place and are so inconsiderate. Not to mention the loud grunting and leaving puddles of sweat everywhere.
NAMALT of course and some of the bro-est of gym bros are lovely, but still.
And I would wear the tiniest outfits without worrying that someone thinks I want male attention.

I’ve become a gym bro. The men don’t bother me, and my concern with a women’s gym would be a lack of squat racks 😱🏋🏻‍♀️ or other heavy equipment. Actually some men seem to be bothered by me out lifting them which I find funny.

Muscle growth is so slow and needs progressive overload. Make sure you are eating enough protein (at least 100g a day) and really push towards increasing the weight you are lifting. If you can do 10 reps it’s probably too light. I would struggle at home - I’d have to keep on buying heavier weights.

Actually some men seem to be bothered by me out lifting them which I find funny.

God yes! I've had several men working out happily, then I go take a bench near them. They look at me, look at my weights.. and walk away. Has happened several timesnow. Mostly younger guys seem to be really offended by a middle aged lady not sticking to suitable tiny pink dumbbells.
It's just the weights I use, I'm not doing it to make a point or anything. So sensitive.

But I don't want to whine and put people off gyms. I've had many more lovely, positive and encouraging interactions than odd or negative ones.

So glad I found this thread!! I’ve been on WLI since last summer and lost 4.5stone, another 8lbs to go I reckon. I also started proper strength training at the same time and I’m sooooo much stronger than before! I’m squatting, pressing, hip thrusting much bigger weights than I ever thought I would, at the same time as getting rid of the weight. It’s elating and liberating!

Ive joined a gym recently but i do findthe weights to be a bit boring to be fair. So i am going to cancel it and go back to my routine of hot yoga/pilate + bootcamp in the park + caroline girvan videos. I will miss the spa/sauna of the gym though!!
it might be slower to gain muscle this way but it will be 10x more enjoyable.
i find in the gym, i do my reps and despite challenging myself, often going to failure and having DOMs, i feel like i am not getting fitter. Ok i have been able to increase weights so i must have gained muscles, but i much prefer to see progress in yoga by being able to hold a pose for longer or deeper or being able to do one more burpee in my bootcamp etc… i think i prefer “exercise” that is part of an activity rather than just the exercise of a specific muscle, if that makes sense….

the best exercise is the one you actually do. If you need to force yourself to go and you don't find it enjoyable, chances are you won't stick with it.

@HeidiLite thank you for being understanding 😊

I listen to podcasts whilst I am doing weights. Luckily my gym has weight lifting classes (using squat racks). But yes has to be something you can do. I think though (and I do reformer pilates as well as weights) that neither make me "fit" in the conventional sense. I run 5km a couple of times and week and do short bursts on the stepper. I'm a bit addicted now to progress with weight lifting, eg I'm working towards a 2x bodyweight deadlift. Progress in pilates is harder to measure, and with running I'm just looking for maintenance, ie to maintain ability to run 5km!

if you can find a gym buddy, it's also a lot more fun to lift weights. Plus of course you have someone to spot you if needed.

I’m glad to have found this thread specifically related to strength training whilst using wli.

I have been maintaining within a few pounds (both above and below) since October (9st 5lb/5’3” if relevant). On 5mg MJ.
However I only started strength training at the end of January, 3x week at a gym.
Will I be able to ‘catch up’? I assume I will have lost muscle during the weight loss phase.

The biggest revelation to me is how much I enjoy going to the gym.

I also now realise I need to eat a lot more protein but finding that difficult, especially as my appetite is still slightly suppressed, meaning I struggle to eat eg, a full can of tuna on a sandwich/salad, piles of eg, chilli etc. I have started using shakes but they make me feel a bit sick.

Welcome @FirstDayonthePlanet! I don’t know about ‘catching up’, but I also don’t think you should worry about it. Sure, I’ve been doing weights while on MJ and for a couple of years before that and I’m pleased about that, but there were decades previously during which I didn’t exercise and I’d be in much better shape now if I had. The important thing is that we’re doing it now - and enjoying it!

Have you tried clear whey shakes? I find they don’t make me feel sick like the other kinds and protein bars do.

You could also consider dropping dose a bit further (eg 3.75mg) since more protein would make you feel fuller?

Thanks @ShrankLastWinter, I hadn’t considered doing a partial drop in MJ dose. I had tried 2.5mg but found it wasn’t enough (at that stage), 5mg is probably slightly too much so somewhere in between is a good shout.

I also hadn’t really heard of clear whey; as it is the creaminess that I think is the problem, this is also a good shout, I’ll order some!

NSV: yesterday at the gym I was back up to pre-WLI weights. I’d dropped down a level on some, eg was doing 27.5kg low row on the pulley machine instead of 35. Or two sets of 27.5 and one of 35. But now can just about do 3 sets of 35 again, which was my peak pre-weightloss.

Supposedly I didn’t lose much muscle - about 5.5kg in a 34kg total loss. But my strength was a bit lower for a while, possibly also because of course my body was underfueled to lose the weight.

I can’t do pull ups but I can now pull up some distance. And once up some way I hold there and lift my knees several time for core. I love doing this. Feels amazing to be stronger. Good for my back too, stretching it out.

Hope everyone’s enjoying their training!

I can now, for the first time in my life, do a few chin-ups - I almost cried´when I got the first one. But am really bad at engaging my back for proper pull-ups, feel them all in my shoulders when I try. But will get there - I know what the issue is and what I need to work on.

It's noce to be properly slim, thanks mounjaro, but I just love being strong. And nobody can accuse us of 'cheating' or taking the easy way out to build those muscles.

Really nice to read about people achieving new things, like pull ups. I haven't tried one as they look bloody hard! Makes my shoulders hurt just watching.

I'm working on press ups instead. It's so frustrating - I can plank 1.5 to 2mins no problem, and do several press ups when I'm raised up a bit. But when it comes to doing them on the floor, I just can't seem to bend my elbows. No matter what I read about technique, how I adjust my hand position, my back, I'm just stuck firm. Maybe up and down an inch or two.

I'm thinking it might be arm strength so back to focusing on them.

@KrankyKumquat I’m also remarkably poor at press ups! I think it’s partly female anatomy - I’m just not a good shape for them. But I reckon there’s also some specific strength I can work on and get less hopeless, even if not good